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James Franklin is owed a lot of money by his former employer, Penn State. The head coach was fired following a 3-3 start to the 2025 college football season.
Franklin’s buyout is reported to near $50 million. He, however, is legally obligated to help the Nittany Lions avoid paying the full amount.
Penn State was a game away from a national championship appearance last year. It entered this year with title hopes and a No. 2 overall ranking.
The team has failed to meet expectations.
After a 3-0 start, the Nittany Lions have dropped three straight Big Ten contests. The last two came as three-touchdown favorites vs. Northwestern and UCLA.
The head coach received the brunt of the blame.
Penn State fans are waiving goodbye to James Franklin and flipping the bird, as Northwestern defeats the Nittany Lions.
A massive ‘Fire Franklin’ chant fills the stadium as the Wildcats take a knee
WOW pic.twitter.com/HEKo3UDiWR
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) October 11, 2025
Penn State fired James Franklin.
That decision came with at a seemingly expensive price. Franklin’s buyout is believed to be the second-largest in the history of the sport at north of $49 million.
The coach, who’d long been criticized for an inability to win the “big game,” promoted this year’s bunch as his most talented team in Happy Valley. Those claims backfired quickly.
Franklin was let go after a 22-21 loss to Northwestern. The buyout was not a deterrent in the decision-making process. Penn State believed it was time for a change. The price tag didn’t matter.
With that said, an interesting clause in the coach’s contract might’ve made the firing a bit easier.
Franklin has a mitigation clause.
Andy Staples of On3 Sports suggests that Penn State wrote terms into James Franklin’s contract that could lessen the financial blow of a firing.
“They have to eat the buyout, which is massive,” Staples said. “$49 million. Basically $8 million a year. Now, here’s the thing about the buyout… James Franklin’s buyout is basically $8 million a year through 2031, but he has what’s called a ‘duty to mitigate.’
“What that means is, he needs to try to find another job. Guess what? James Franklin isn’t washed. There are programs that would love to have James Franklin as their coach. They’d love to pay James Franklin $4-5 million a year to be their coach.”
A mitigation clause is a provision that requires a party suffering a loss take reasonable steps to minimize that loss. In this case, that involves Franklin searching for another job.
His salary at the next stop would then be used to offset the overall buyout total, dollar for dollar.
Staples says Penn State is on the hook for about $8 million per year through 2031. Should Franklin land a new job with a $4 million salary, that number is cut in half.
It could reduce the buyout significantly.
This type of clause is not something new. It’s also not used in every contract – see Jimbo Fisher.
The provision in Franklin’s case could and should save Penn State a ton of money. The Nittany Lions will be keeping a close eye on his next landing spot.